I don’t really know..but I think I started being interested in Norway as a country when I got interested in the issue of Scottish Independence, which was back at the time of the first Independence referendum in 1979. Scotland often compares herself with Norway, we are geographically close, historically large parts of Scotland were under Norse rule and a large number of Scots have Norse blood. The two countries’ populations are similar at 5.5 million each, both discovered they had a wealth of oil in the North Sea in the 1960s at around the same time, both countries have been part of a union with neighbouring countries, Norway only becoming an independent country again in the early 20th century. I admire the way their socially democratic monarchy works, the oil wealth they gained from oil revenues has been put into a “wealth fund” and not squandered like the UK Treasury did with the Scottish oil, making it one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is also a very beautiful country with some of the most amazing scenery. The fact that my favourite band a -ha also just happens to be Norwegian is probably only a happy coincidence , because even before they burst onto music the scene in 1985, my two favourite classical composers were Sibelius and Grieg, both of them Nordic.

@Marionville In the late '70's I was working in Calgary, Alberta. The provincial government, 95% Conservative was lead by a Peter Lougheed who proposed investing oil revenue wealth in a Heritage fund. He set it up. He also spent money on building hospitals and opening provincial parks. Not a usual conservative. Subsequent premiers spent rather than saved and all those Alberta Heritage Fund railcars we used to see rumbling across BC gradually rusted away. Today Alberta hovers with debts and of course blames BC for our attitudes to pipelines rather than lamenting that Alberta could have been as rich as Norway. Instead, they did everything Industry asked and royalties sank to near zero. Savings almost nothing.

@dede18 We never paid enough attention despite Roosevelt's warning, which needed to be heard throughout the world. The Rothschilds have taken control of the money and profit is king.